Ultrasound imaging involves the display of information obtained from reflections of (echoes of) pulses of ultrasonic waves directed into the body. These echoes contain information about the underlying structure of the tissue and blood flow in the region exposed to ultrasound waves. The sophistication and capabilities of ultrasound imaging systems have increased dramatically in recent years, resulting in bulkier and costlier systems which collect an ever increasing volume of data for each imaging session. The explosion in system cost and amount of data collected creates significant problems for the health care industry which must control equipment costs, data storage costs, and labor costs associated with diagnostic testing. Today, many rural and remotely located health care facilities cannot afford to purchase, install or maintain the bulky and costly sophisticated ultrasound imaging systems presently on the market. Furthermore, physicians do not wish to use stripped down or otherwise inferior versions of current systems, since the sophisticated capabilities are often necessary to obtain the most accurate diagnosis possible. Accordingly, there is a significant and unmet need for an ultrasound imaging system which is physically small and/or portable, which collects data in a manner that minimizes storage needs, and which is significantly less expensive than current state of the art systems, yet which provides diagnostic capabilities that are equal to or better than existing bulky and costly full feature systems. The present invention fulfills such needs.